Telephone switches, including private branch exchange ("PBX") switches, provide routing of data, voice and video signals to communicate information. Switching equipment links telephones, fax machines, computers, and other data systems together, so that people can exchange information no matter where they are located. Information can be sent in traditional ways with a person's voice speaking on the telephone, with facsimile transmission to send documents, or through data sent via computer systems, and use of satellites. The Internet's world wide web links global information and sites by travel through electronic switches and their software.
Conventional telecommunications switches are often housed in cabinets that have racks for mounting modular circuit packs therein. The modular circuit packs, or "cards," connect various processing and switching circuits to a backplane of the cabinet that allows data to be routed to individual cards, exchanged between the cards, and transmitted to communications devices, such as telephones, coupled to the switch. For example, all the extensions of a PBX are connected to line cards that slide into a PBX's rack-mounted cage. At the rear of the PBX cage, there are several connectors, each of which is coupled to the PBX's backplane. The backplane is typically running at a very high speed, since it carries many conversations, address information and considerable signaling. The capacity of the backplane determines the overall capacity of the switch.
Due to the proliferation of new media services that require broadband data transmission, such as real-time audio and video, conventional telecommunications switches must be adapted to support ever-increasing data rates. Thus, telecommunications switches must be designed to receive and transmit data via broadband transmission media, such as coaxial cable and fiber optics. Prior art methods of coupling modular circuit packs to broadband media have used "rack-and-panel" connectors for each slot in the rack. Using this method, the broadband input/output for a modular circuit pack is at the rear of the card, thus requiring that each circuit pack slot in a rack be equipped to accommodate such interconnections. Whereas it is unnecessary for each circuit pack in a typical configuration to require broadband interconnection, however, the prior art method adds unnecessary cost and complexity to the backplane. Furthermore, routing broadband media to many locations on a backplane makes it more difficult for a technician to service the interface between the rack and the cross connect field.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a circuit pack cable adapter that allows broadband interconnections to the front of modular circuit packs in a telecommunications rack. Furthermore, there is a need in the art for a method of coupling broadband media to modular circuit packs that does not require substantial modifications to standard backplane interconnections, and which provides for an easily serviceable interface between the rack and the cross connect field.